Pleasanton: 60-foot cell phone tower OK'd

PLEASANTON -- A telecommunications giant has cleared its final hurdle in getting approval to build a cell phone tower in a large office park.

AT&T Wireless plans to construct the 60-foot-high pole at Valley Business Park, a 69-acre property at 1056 Serpentine Lane. The tower, which will be mounted with 12 antennas standing 6 feet tall, will be part of a wireless facility that AT&T will build on a 1.16-acre parcel at the office park.

The company's plans also call for installing a 17-foot-high platform that will contain wireless equipment. Two GPS antennas will be attached to the platform, according to a staff report. At a neighborhood outreach meeting held last month, some residents complained that the tower's radio frequency emissions might cause negative health effects.

However, city staff said that AT&T submitted a report showing it had met the standards of the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that rules on radio frequency safety. City officials then hired a consultant, which independently reviewed and confirmed AT&T's findings, according to a staff report.

The Planning Commission heeded city staff's recommendation at a July 24 meeting, where it unanimously approved the tower and the rest of the wireless facility.

Opponents then had 15 days to file an appeal but none did, said Janice Stern, Pleasanton's planning manager. As a result, the tower's approval became official Aug. 8.

Advertisement

The cell phone pole will be a monopine, created to resemble a faux pine tree, complete with fake green-colored tree branches and pine needles, city officials said. The tower is being built to improve cell phone reception and other wireless communication in Pleasanton and surrounding areas, according to a city staff report.

The office park that would house the wireless facility is surrounded by single-family residences, industrial warehouses and railroad tracks. City law states that wireless service facilities must be placed at least 300 feet from any residences, schools, parks and centers providing care to children or seniors. AT&T's proposed tower complies with that law, according to a staff report, because it is more than 300 feet from surrounding homes and Quarry Lane School's nearby campus.